UH students return from final Schmidt Ocean Institute expedition

University of Hawaiʻi marine science students will return from the last of three student research expeditions aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor on Thursday, June 19. The group sailed to Station ALOHA, a long-term ocean sampling site 60 miles north of Oʻahu. The 11 students on this past cruise makes a total of 58 UH graduate and undergraduate students who have had an opportunity to learn and train onboard the R/V Falkor in 2014.

Most of this third student group’s research at Station ALOHA focused on small crustaceans known as copepods. Student projects included researching the grazing habits of copepod larvae—a critical component in ocean nutrient cycling—and exploring the fluorescence in copepods and copepod paternity.

“It was wonderful to watch everyone work together—the students, postdoctoral students and the Schmidt Ocean Institute team,” said Erica Goetze, Schmidt Ocean Institute’s chief scientist and assistant professor. “The data collected on this expedition will serve as a foundation for multiple PhD dissertations and research projects.”

Iron-eating bacteria focus of additional Falkor cruise

With the student cruises completed, the R/V Falkor leaves the Port of Honolulu again for the Lōʻihi Seamount off Hawaiʻi Island on June 25, on a research cruise led by SOEST Assistant Professor Brian Glazer.

His research will focus on iron-eating bacteria at this undersea volcano. Glazer and his research team will collect water samples to better understand the processes impacting delivery and dispersion of hydrothermal fluids from Lōʻihi to the Pacific Ocean. The goal is to gain a better understanding of the processes underway at two known sites where bacteria are feeding on or oxidizing iron.

This will be the last Schmidt Ocean Institute research cruise in Hawaiʻi for 2014.